Emotion, Tradition and Archery at the Takadanobaba Yabusame Festival

If the horse riding events of the Olympics left you wanting more, you can treat yourself to a festival of Yabusame (流鏑馬), traditional Japanese horseback archery.

Although it is possible to enjoy Yabusame festivals in various places in Japan, the Toyama Park festival in Tokyo is one of the most famous. Every year in mid-October, residents of the Shinjuku district prepare for this wonderful event.

An archer in suikan (水干, the dress of nobles during feudal times) on horseback gallops along a 255-meter-long path. You basically control the horse with your knees, as you have to use both hands to handle your bow and shoot the arrows.

As he approaches the “targets”, he raises his bow and readies his arrow by drawing it further behind his own ear, then releasing it to the cry of “In-Yō-In-Yō” 陰陽陰陽 (darkness and light). Shoot 3 special arrows at a distance of 200 meters. The arrowheads are blunt and rounded to sound louder when hitting the “targets.”

Toyama Park is near Takadanobaba 高田馬場, a neighborhood associated with horses since the Edo period. There used to be a very wide woolen field where the samurai practiced their archery and cavalry skills. The first Yabusame festival in Takadanobaba is said to have been in honor of the Anahachiman-gū 穴八幡宮 Shrine in nearby Waseda in 1728, as part of a ceremony to bring good fortune to the eighth shogun’s successor, Tokugawa Yoshimune.

The best way to travel in Japan is by train, very punctual and convenient, but it can be expensive. For an even better price, we recommend traveling with the Japan Railways universal pass called JR PASS , which you can purchase on their website. This pass is purchased before traveling to Japan , arriving at the airport or at any train station , you can pick up your pass with proof of purchase .